The Online Library of Liberty A Project Of Liberty Fund, Inc. Augustin Thierry, The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1 [1856] The Online Library Of Liberty This E-Book (PDF format) is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a private, non-profit, educational foundation established in 1960 to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. 2010 was the 50th anniversary year of the founding of Liberty Fund. It is part of the Online Library of Liberty web site http://oll.libertyfund.org, which was established in 2004 in order to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. To find out more about the author or title, to use the site's powerful search engine, to see other titles in other formats (HTML, facsimile PDF), or to make use of the hundreds of essays, educational aids, and study guides, please visit the OLL web site. 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Wells, Two volumes in One (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1859). Author: Augustin Thierry Translator: Rev. Francis B. Wells About This Title: In this influential work Thierry combines two of his main interests, the study of the ruling elites of French history and the rise of the third estate to challenge this rule from the middle ages until the outbreak of the French Revolution. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 2 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1957 Online Library of Liberty: The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1 About Liberty Fund: Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private, educational foundation established to encourage the study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals. Copyright Information: The text is in the public domain. Fair Use Statement: This material is put online to further the educational goals of Liberty Fund, Inc. Unless otherwise stated in the Copyright Information section above, this material may be used freely for educational and academic purposes. It may not be used in any way for profit. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 3 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1957 Online Library of Liberty: The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1 Table Of Contents Translator’s Preface. Preface. History of the Formation and Progress of the Tiers Etat, an Essay Chapter I.: Extinction of Ancient Slavery—fusion of Races—rise of the Bourgeoisie of the Middle Ages. Chapter II.: The Parliament In the Thirteenth Century—the States-general of 1302, 1355, and 1356. Chapter III.: The Tiers Etat Under Charles V., Charles VI., Charles VII., And Louis XI. Chapter IV.: The States-general of 1484—the Tiers Etat Under Louis XII., Francis I., And Henry II. Chapter V.: The States-general of 1560 and of 1576 Chapter VI.: The States-general of 1588; the Tiers Etat In the Reign of Henry IV. Chapter VII.: The States-general of 1614. Chapter VIII.: The Parliament Under Louis XIII., The Ministry of Richelieu, the Fronde. Chapter IX.: Louis XIV. And Colbert. Chapter X.: Social Character of the Reign of Louis XIV., Its Influence Upon the Progress of the Tiers Etat. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 4 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1957 Online Library of Liberty: The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1 [Back to Table of Contents] TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE. Though the Translator feels that the name of Augustin Thierry, already so well known in this country, especially by his “Histoire de la Conquête de l’Angleterre,” affords the best hope of drawing attention to the work which he has ventured to present in an English dress, yet he wishes to state briefly some few characteristics which particularly mark it, and which may excite an interest in the mind of the general reader, as well as of the student of French history. They are as follows:—The very vivid sketches which the accurate and experienced author has given of the principal persons and events which are connected with those most interesting passages of French history, which form the subject of his work. The manner in which, while purposely omitting facts which are already generally known, he has drawn attention to those which are but slightly noticed by other historians. The insight which he gives into that growth of opinion and national progress which, like a strong under-current, was in reality silently determining the course of events, not only in France, but in civilized Europe, during the Middle Ages, and the period immediately subsequent to them. And, lastly, the bold and earnest love of truth and laborious investigation of documentary evidence which have made history what it ought to be—a record of facts, rather than a mere expression of superficial opinions and prejudices—and which honourably distinguish the school of writers to which M. Thierry so eminently belongs, and to which a daily increasing value is justly attached. The Translator begs to add, that he has thought it most conducive to accuracy to retain for the most part the names of offices and technical terms in the original language, where either there is no exact equivalent in English, or where the apparent equivalent might mislead from a different signification having been attached to it; but, in almost every instance of the kind, the reader will find them explained in the context or in the notes. He has also left a few of the notes in old French untranslated, as the substance of them is generally embodied in the text, and their value seemed in great measure to depend on a certain quaintness of language which could not be preserved in the translation. PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011) 5 http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/1957 Online Library of Liberty: The Formation and Progress of the Tiers État, or Third Estate in France vol. 1 [Back to Table of Contents] PREFACE. The work which forms the principal part of this volume is the summary of all my labours relative to France. It has been composed as an introduction to the collection of unpublished records of the history of the Tiers Etat, one of the publications of historical documents ordered under the last reign. It is a survey of our national history, taken in those years in which the author, carrying his observations back to the distance of seven centuries, and thence bringing it down to the state of things around him, remarked a regular succession of civil and political progress; and recognised, at each end of the road which he had travelled over, the same nation and the same monarchy, connected one with the other, modified under the same circumstances, and exhibiting their last change consecrated by a new compact of union. Considered from this point of view, the history of France appeared beautiful in unity and simplicity. I have vividly felt the grandeur of such a spectacle, and under its impression, I have conceived the design of bringing together continuously into one narrative the facts which mark through successive ages the gradual development of the Tiers Etat, its obscure sources, and the part which it bore in a slow but always progressive influence upon the social life of the country. In order that the nature of this work may be perfectly understood, I must fix the true sense of the words Tiers Etat in the mind of the reader. The space which separates the present time from the old regime, and the prejudices which were spread by systems tending to divide the population of the nation, which is to-day one and the same, into classes mutually opposed to one another, have obscured in the minds of many persons the historical idea of that which constituted in former times the third order in the States-General of the kingdom. There is a disposition to suppose that this third order then answered to what is now called the bourgeoisie; that it was a superior class among those which were out of the pale of, and, in different degrees, beneath the nobility and the clergy. This opinion, which, besides its falseness, has the evil of making an antagonism appear to have its foundation in history, though it is in reality but an invention of yesterday, and one that is destructive of all public security, is in contradiction to all the ancient proofs, to the authentic acts of the monarchy, and to the spirit of the great movement of reform in 1789. In the sixteenth century some foreign ambassadors, describing the political constitution of France, said, “What are called the States of the kingdom consist of three orders of persons, who are, first the clergy, next the nobility, then all the rest of the population.